Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch, Detroit Free Press / LSJ MSU beat writer Graham Couch and Free Press columnist Jeff Seidel dissect the Spartans' 81-63 win Thursday night. Chris Solari/Detroit Free Press
EAST LANSING — Mike Brey was immediately effusive in his praise for the energy and crowd inside Breslin Center on Thursday night.
Just as quickly after No. 3 Michigan State’s 81-63 win over No. 5 Notre Dame, however, the Fighting Irish coach made sure to emphasize that a revival of the rivalry is “not happening.”
“I just don't want to play too many Big Ten games,” Brey said. “The other thing that is going to be interesting in non-league scheduling is both us and the Big Ten are going to 20 league games. So what's your philosophy with your non-league? I think you have to be smart and not over-schedule in your non-league (games) because we're both going to play 20.”
More: Michigan State puts on a show, topples Notre Dame, 81-63
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The two teams have played 96 times now, with Notre Dame holding a 60-36 all-time advantage. However, the schools did not play between the Elite Eight in the 1979 NCAA Tournament and their 2014 mandated meeting in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Irish won that game in South Bend, 79-78 in overtime.
This was Notre Dame’s first game ever at Breslin and their first trip to East Lansing since February 1974 at Jenison Field House. Their every-year series ended in 1975.
Brey called Breslin “an unbelievable home basketball atmosphere.”
“I'd be fine meeting them every five years in the ACC/Big Ten (Challenge),” he said. “But they're a great program and they're a great measuring stick for where your program is.”
Momentous win
Even a Hall of Fame coach has some first left.
Tom Izzo beat top-10 opponents back-to-back for the first time in his 23-year career at MSU. The Spartans downed North Carolina, then No. 9, in the final game of the Phil Knight Invitational on Sunday, 63-45.
MSU beat the Irish by the same 18-point margin as the Tar Heels, which marked the Spartans’ biggest victory over a top-5 team since defeating then-No. 4 Michigan 75-52 on Feb. 12, 2013.
Pounding the boards
Along with the Spartans’ hot start on offense, jumping out to a 31-11 lead in the by the midpoint of the first half, they produced at both the defensive end and on the glass in that span.
MSU held Notre Dame to just 4 of 13 shooting in the opening 10 minutes of the game, while the Spartans also owned a 13-1 rebounding edge in that start. They made 12 of their first 18 shots.
“I think as a team, if we keep going the way we’re going, we have a lot of great things in store for us,” said sophomore Joshua Langford, who scored 10 of his 17 points in those opening 10 minutes.
Said Izzo, “It was a great 10 minutes. I was kind of hoping that the game ended then, to be honest with you.”
The Irish made seven of their final 16 attempts in the first half and shot 44.4 percent for the game after going 13-for-25 in the second half. However, the Spartans still doubled them up on the boards, finishing with a 42-21 edge that included 15 offensive rebounds that turned into a 20-6 edge in second-chance points.
Brey called MSU “the best rebounding team in the country.”
“You win big games, you win championships — we’ve said it since the day that I got to this place — because of your defense and your rebounding,” Izzo said. “At the end of the day, even though they shot 44 percent, I thought our defense and rebounding won us the game.”
Cutting turnovers
MSU finished with just 13 turnovers against the Irish after committing a season-worst 24 against No. 11 North Carolina in its PK80 championship win Sunday.
The Spartans committed just five in the first half Thursday, three coming in a five-minute stretch. Then came five more of their giveaways in the first five minutes of the second half, allowing Notre Dame to cut a 20-point halftime lead to 12.
“Other than that,” Izzo said, “we probably played 30 something minutes of very good basketball.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!
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